Take note I'm really, pathetically oblivious and ignorant of Obsidian and Bethesda's production of any games aside from those involved in Fallout-as that's the series I'm basically interested in that has been made by either.

But I'm curious as to why it will take four years, approximately, for the development of Fallout 4? When Fallout: New Vegas took so much less time?(Unless they held off an announcement for a good chunk of the creation(I don't know when the development began, exactly)) Is it just that Bethesda is currently working on other games, or is there some reasoning involving the development in which Fallout 4 will actually be developed throughout the next four years even though Fallout: New Vegas didn't(unless I'm mistaken).

This isn't to complain, or suggest, anything. I'm just curious. :]

1. New Vegas runs on the same engine as Fallout 3(no need to spend time completely revamping it)
2. New Vegas uses Fallout 3 assets
3. Todd Howard has stated that they are currently in full development with one game and in pre-production with another. He has also stated that they have revamped the engine a lot, and that their next game will look like it belongs on a new generation of consoles.

The game in full development is speculated to be TESV. I really don't see why Bethesda Game Studios would develop Fallout 4 rather than TESV. Fallout 3 came out two years ago and New Vegas is coming out two years later. Why would they release Fallout 4 in a couple of years and not develop a new game for The Elder Scrolls series? If Fallout 4 would to come out in 2013(five years after Fallout 3, three after New Vegas), then that would mean it would be seven years since the latest Elder Scrolls game. And considering that most of Bethesda Game Studios' fans are TES fans first and foremost, there would be a lot of rage if TES was put away for such a long time so that Bethesda could milk the Fallout franchise.

Well, New Vegas took ~2 years because it was made using what Bethesda used in Fallout 3. It's engine, many of it's assets, and so on. That cut a lot of off the development time needed. Fallout 4, however, needs to be built from the ground up.

Take a look at http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1057/timeline17.png I made for the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1119624-official-tes-v-speculation-thread-69/. As you can see, Bethesda's games take a very long time to make. You can be absolutely positive that any game they make will take close to 3 years, if not more, to be released once development starts. Now, Bethesda currently has 2 projects in development, as you can seen in that timeline. One has been in development for 2+ years, and the other is still in pre-production, so actual development of the game hasn't started. It's almost certain that the project that's 2 years in development is The Elder Scrolls V, and the one in pre-production is Fallout 4. That is, ignoring the possibility of a new IP, of course. The reasoning behind this is that Bethesda hasn't released an Elder Scrolls game, their most successful series along with Fallout, in more than 4 1/2 years, while a Fallout game will be released in just a few days. Bethesda may not have developed New Vegas, but releasing yet another Fallout game right after having 2 Fallout games in 2 years would be over-saturating the market. Anyway, the point is that they haven't even started making Fallout 4 yet, and are still in the planning stages if anything. Even if Bethesda started developing it right this instant, we likely wouldn't hear an announcement for 2 years, and we wouldn't see it released for a year or more after that.

I wouldn't expect Fallout 4 to come out until 2013 at the earliest

Yeah, I have no expectations of Fallout 4 coming out anytime soon, as I'm (vaguely) aware that Bethesda DOES produce a number of other games. Due to the format of it's forums(I never look at the other titles, I just notice there are other titles). And again, I have no qualms about the fact-it'd be ridiculous to expect Fallout 4 to be prepared for release right after or anytime close to the release of Fallout: New Vegas.

And thanks for the explanation. :] Aside from what I stated above, I didn't really know 'bout anything you guys mentioned, until now obviously.

You're welcome.

For future reference, note that the only games Bethesda has developed that have forums here are Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. Every single other title are games Bethesda published. Bethesda Game Studios makes Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, and Bethesda Softworks publishes both BGS' games and the games of other developers. BGS has made other games and other series besides those Fallout and TES, of course, but those two series are their most successful by far.

So it would be reasonable to believe that they will stick to this mold, and publish games from other series that people are waiting for, but only really develop fallout and elder scrolls games?

Bethesda Softworks will definitely keep publishing games, and Bethesda Game Studios will definitely keep developing. It's reasonable to assume they'll follow the 3-4 year mold for each game, but as their team expands, the amount of time it takes to make a game should slowly get smaller.

Aren't future fallout games still in limbo due to that Interplay thing? Haven't heard much in a while, probably not supposed to even talk about it here

No, we aren't supposed to talk about it here, but I can assure you that from what I've been able to study of the case that, unless things change in the future, even if they lose this they will still be able to make Fallout 4. Fallout 5 would be in question but Fallout 4 would still be allowed. But that's all I'll say on the subject since, as you said, we can't talk about it here.

There is no threat of that. Since it is an ongoing case however we do not discuss it here. Thanks for that.

I think that Fallout 4 will be out in 2-3 years, considering fallout was one of the most successful titles on the x-box I cannot see them not giving it a huge amount of attention. In saying that I would be happy with a new Eldar Scrolls, as Oblivion was a really good game (not as good as fallout, but still pretty good). Regardless we have New Vegas to keep us going for at least the next 2 years (yes, I have milked fallout 3 for two years and still love it).
Cheers,
Ashen

They might as well have just named New Vegas Fallout 4. Even if it uses the same engine and most of the same graphics as Fallout 3 it's still a new installment, new story, new location/characters, etc.